Consultants Come To Crowley’s Defense

Yet another congratulatory email from a consulting firm to its winning client candidates has arrived, and although Red Horse Strategies had nothing little to do with the NY-9 race, it no longer saw fit to weigh in on the fierce bout of finger-pointing now underway in political circles.

“(W)e would like to extend our thanks and congratulations to Congressman and Queens County Leader Joe Crowley on his victories in both Queens Assembly races,” the email states.

“While some are trying to single out Congressman Crowley for the unexpected loss in the 9th Congressional District, we could not disagree more. Joe is one of the most effective County Leaders in the State and has been a fierce advocate on core Democratic issues and progressive values for decades.”

UPDATE: Red Horse informs me it did some mailers for labor unions that supported Weprin and a small canvass for the last two days of the NY-9 race, so it did have some skin in the game here. Mea culpa.

This is kind of a curious approach. Crowley probably doesn’t need any reminding that he’s being accused of putting self-perservation and redistricting interests ahead of the good of the party by selecting a lackluster candidate like Assemblyman David Weprin to run in NY-9. Like the email suggests, he’s taking it from all sides.

The main focus of Red Horse’s email is to laud the “many winning candidates and campaigns we proudly helped during an active primary and special election season,” including four new Democratic Assembly members – Anthony Brindisi in Utica, Dan Quart in Manhattan, and Michael Simanowitz and Phil Goldfeder in Queens.

The firm also said it was proud to have played a role in Assemblyman Mike Spano’s “hard-fought win” in the primary for Yonkers Mayor.

One of Red Horse’s founders, Doug Forand, said the firm didn’t run any of the above-mentioned campaigns, but rather did independent expenditure work (mail, field and phones) for labor unions, including the UFT, HTC, NYSUT, 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU and AFSCME.

Red Horse did run at least one race this cycle – Tim O’Neill’s losing bid in the Rockland County sheriff Democratic primary – but makes no mention of that race in its email. O’Neill lost to Lou Falco, who was a Parkside Group client.

O’Neill remains on the general election ballot on the Independence Party line and reportedly told supporters he intends to continue running.